Enron's Ken Lay escapes going to prison

Fifteen Things To Remember About Kenneth Lay and Enron:
Fifteen Things To Remember About Kenneth Lay and Enron:

1). Mr. Lay and his company were among the largest campaign contributors to George W. Bush throughout his political career;

2). In 2000, Mr. Lay provided candidate George W. Bush with use of the Enron company jet for the campaign;

3). Mr. Lay was on President Bush's short list for nominees to be his Secretary of Energy;

4). Mr. Lay vetted President Bush's choice to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;

5). Mr. Lay was a key participant in Vice President Dick Cheney's secret "Energy Task Force";

6). Mr. Lay met with Cheney to ask him to block the FERC from capping California's energy prices during the Enron-manufactured energy "crisis";

7). President Bush's first Secretary of the Army, Thomas White, was a former Enron executive who moved to de-regulate how the Army purchased energy;

8). Attorney General Alberto Gonzales got his start as a lawyer for Vinson and Elkins whose main client at the time was Enron;

9). Republican strategist and White House go-to guy, Ed Gillespie, was formerly a lobbyist for Enron;

10). Mr. Lay testified and spent millions of dollars to promote de-regulation of energy markets at the state and federal level by making the bogus claim that such de-regulation would benefit consumers;

11). Mr. Lay and Enron, after successfully pushing energy de-regulation in California with the help of cronies in government, immediately let loose their young traders who gamed the market by illegally restricting the supply of energy, thereby reaping billions of dollars in ill-gotten profits for the company;

12). Mr. Lay gave far more campaign cash to Republicans and was himself a life-long Republican, (the mainstream media imply that since Lay threw a little cash at Democrats his political giving was nonpartisan);

13). The New York Times tells us that in the wake of Mr. Lay's conviction some business schools are now offering "ethics classes," but ignores the fact that Enron's slash-and-burn practices -- "special purpose entities," "limited partnerships," off-shore accounts, and its cooptation of politicians, investment banks, and accounting firms -- has itself become a business model;

14). Businessweek, Forbes, Fortune, and the business pages of the nation's leading newspapers, held up Mr. Lay as a hero of business right up to his company's spectacular collapse;

15). The dark implications of President Bush's tight connections to "Kenny Boy" and to Enron.

OK, you obviously have nothing but disdanin for Lay and exultation in his death.

But know that I will be there when you bemoan the execution of rapists and murderers.

BBB




BBB

BBB
Does anyone on A2K feel sorry for Ken Lay?

BBB

Re: BBB


and does anyone on A2K really think a person could be so stupid as to compare an execution to a heart attack?

Re: BBB


I certainly feel sorry for people who loved him.

Gotta tell you, BBB, this thread has a definite Coulter nastiness flavour to me. Widows enjoying their husband's deaths, Ken Lay 'escaping' prison. This way of thinking is ugly to me.

IMO, having that heart attack was too good for him.

BBB asked-



See 8th post down on page 1.

Re: BBB


I have to respectfully disagree with you ebeth.

Widows enjoying their husbands deaths= pure hateful pot stirring diguised as subjective observation.

Ken Lay comitted suicide to prevent jail and help his family keep assets and money= a contingency that was considered by many and there is precedent for it. Also, it has been posted post death that the autopsy revealed no foul play.

I will not deny that BBB, I, and many others think he was an a$$hole and feel no sympathy for him but that's different from the Coulter approach. This guy died and there is a certain irony to the circumstances. There is absolutely no grounds whatsoever for Coulter to state that the 9/11 widows were enjoying their husbands deaths.

Let's don't fight though.

Thanks for taking the time to say it, Bear.
Most of us try to be good people and have good thoughts towards our fellow human beings but your comparison ehbeth was pretty absurd.

Re: BBB


ehBeth, my question was limited to sorrow about Ken Lay, not the people who loved him.

Obviously, I and others may feel sorry for the family, even if they benefited from Lay's larceny. But I have no sorrow for Ken Lay. He managed to protect his family's financial interests after all.

I would be shocked and heartbroken if you considered me to be equal to Ann Coulter.

BBB

I wonder how many heart attacks, strokes, divorces, etc. were suffered by the poor unfortunates who lost everything at the hands of Ken Lay and Co.? I remember one story about a man who moved his family from Michigan to Houston to take a position just a few weeks before the collapse. The wife, a professional, left her high-ranking position, one kid was in college, two in high school, and it was all riding on dad's new job at Enron. To think that people were being lured away from other high-paying positions, moving across the country and hired by a company who pulled the rug out from under them, hiding the fact that it was going down in flames, was heartless, to say the least. I feel no pity for Ken Lay. None at all.

In the recent Bangor paper there was an editorial cartoon.It showed Ken Lay standing in front of a giant satan . And Satan speaks
"Wlle Ken, I see you have one of our "get out of jail free" Cards"

There are rumours published here that Ken Lay's death is a stunt, that friends in high places have arranged his disappearance.

Anyone heard anything about that?

Hadn't heard that but, it's not a surprising theory when considering that circle of skunks and snakes.